Radio keeps its ear on
the proceedings. President Obama can be seen delivering his inaugural address
from NPR’s position on the north media platform at the U.S. Capitol. NPR’s
Mackie 1620 mixer, foreground, was fed by three host mics, two wireless mics, a
mult feed, an ambi mic, returns from two ISDN codecs and a return from a phone
hybrid. A headphone bag helped make the meters more visible to the operator.

WASHINGTON — Security, logistics and telecom
connectivity are three of the biggest concerns for radio networks planning inauguration
day coverage in the nation’s capital, according to broadcast engineers “in the
know.”

The
availability and reliability of 4G compared to four years ago allows network engineers
more flexibility in their remote plans in general, including locations such as the
West Front steps of the U.S. Capitol and then along the parade route before
ending at the White house.

As President Obama took his oath for the second
time, there was plenty of pomp and circumstance, as required of such events. A
collection of radio news networks — America’s Radio News Network, C-Span Radio,
NPR, Voice of America, CBS Radio News and many more — captured the pageantry in
audio: Beyoncé’s national anthem, Richard Blanco’s poem, the oath and inaugural
address.

The
use of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram blogging and Twitter by
terrestrial radio broadcasters grew significantly from four years ago. In
addition, many network affiliates offered streaming audio feeds.

Dry air and somewhat mild temperatures in the 40s
presented minimal weather challenges in covering the 57th Presidential
Inauguration, according to broadcast
engineers and techs working the event. At least one radio network scaled back
coverage of the year’s inauguration compared to four years ago because of the
perceived lessened significance of this year’s event — not unusual for a second
inaugural.

The radio networks take advantage of permanent telecom
infrastructure already in place at the U.S. Capitol, though the moving nature
of an inauguration day schedule presents challenges and requires creativity, according
to engineers.

Cold tests

National
Public Radio,
which presented a special broadcast of inaugural events and a live stream
available online and on mobile devices, concocted
battery tests to prepare for potential cold weather and the lack of power in
several remote locations. The tests prior to inauguration day were similar to
ones the network performed four years ago, said Neil Trevault, technical
director of elections for NPR.

“I borrowed the refrigerator from the technicians’
lounge to freeze the Musicam RoadWarriors (portable IP/ISDN codec). We knew we
had to use them at locations without any power,” Tevault said. “We had to use
large acid batteries weighing about 25 pounds. I froze the RoadWarrior with the
battery. We ran audio to and from it to replicate working conditions. We
managed about seven hours of battery life.”

Inauguration day, a 13-hour workday for Tevault, is
like preparing for a giant remote, he said.

“We had locations at the Capitol, three locations at
the Mall, three fixed sites along the parade route and five roaming reporters
along the parade route. Gathering all the equipment for this undertaking is the
biggest remote I’ve ever packed for.”

NPR used limited pool coverage of the day’s events;
the network used the main studio at its Washington headquarters for final
mixing and satellite distribution to affiliates. NPR hard-patched the sends and
returns through ISDN from the Capitol location to master control, he said,
instead of using the switcher to route the audio, which would have limited the
audio to only four paths.

NPR’s director at the Capitol used a Telos hybrid to
talk to the director in the master control studio via a Prospect Electronics
IFB box. Tevault said the audio return from the studio used by the air talent
was via ISDN, too.

Barry
Bagnato of CBS Radio News was one of several correspondents anchoring live
coverage. Barry is overlooking the West Capitol steps and using a Telos Zephyr Xstreme MXP (ISDN codec plus four-input
mixer) box and a Sennheiser HMD26 headset mic.

“Our talent used head set mics with DPA microphones
and regular Sony headphones; they don’t look fancy but it’s the best-sounding
headset microphone we have used.

“A Mackie 1620 console was onsite and the Prospect
IFB unit allowed the director talk to any of the reporters. We used Musicam
Suprima ISDN codecs and a return from a Telos hybrid. We had a reporter on a
wireless mic to extend our reach with a combo of a Lectrosonics wireless unit
and Shure microphone,” Tevault said.

One of NPR’s Musicam RoadWarriors was connected to
ISDN at an area called the media village, serviced by Verizon, he said.

The wider availability of 4G compared to President
Obama’s first inauguration made a real difference, allowing for better
connectivity and increased mobility for reporters, he said. NPR employed
several wireless portable Comrex Access units.

“We
struggled several times getting the Access units connected because of the heavy
use on the 4G network, but when we did, we used cell phones. However, that was
seldom,” Tevault said. “More often than not we got them connected with the high
data rates at 64 kbps to codecs at the master control. The audio quality is
tremendous and way better than a cell phone or sat phone.”

About the only thing that failed during NPR’s
inauguration day broadcast was something Tevault had failed to test: the up and
down timers relied on by the producers to time for rejoins and end of reports.

“The cold got to them. The timers sat in the cold
too long. The director had to resort to an app on her iPhone for a countdown
the producers could see.”

Frequency coordination

NPR staged all its gear on Sunday for what Tevault
described as “war games” set up by the frequency coordinator. Media
organizations have use of specific wireless frequencies for such events, he
explained, and by turning on the equipment during the test they make sure they
are not giving or receiving any interference.

It takes longer than usual to get to any location
and back because of heavy security for such an event. “When you are inside or
outside the security perimeter, it takes time to get through to where you are
going,” Tevault said.

NPR, which had an IT person and two telecom people
at the West Front of the Capitol for the swearing in, featured co-hosts Steve
Inskeep and Audie Cornish on the broadcast platform. Correspondents Ari
Shapiro, Scott Horsley and David Welna contributed from remote locations.

Tevault said Beyoncé’s performance of the national
anthem — famously lip synced — was memorable for its sound quality.

“Let’s just say that Beyoncé’s audio quality was a
lot better than Kelly Clarkson even though they were using the same microphone.
I scratched my head for a minute listening to it. I was thinking, ‘Boy, for
singing live she sure sounds good.’”

CBS
Radio News provided live anchored coverage and short-form special reports of
inaugural ceremonies as well as a wrapup program of the ceremony featuring correspondents
Dan Raviv, Bob Fuss, Peter Maer, Pam Coulter, Barry Bagnato and others.

The news organization collaborated with Dial Global
on the technical challenges of covering inauguration day, according to Craig
Swagler, executive producer of special events for CBS Radio Network. Dial
Global is CBS Radio’s engineering partner for special live events.

Swagler worked with Mitch Glider, vice president of
engineering for Dial Global, New York, on logistical planning and technical
needs.

“We began editorial planning for inauguration day
right after the general election,” according to Swagler. “We identify the
anchor locations, how many live remote spots, where will we mix the show and
then how we will break it out to the affiliates.”

The location of each CBS Radio News host and
reporter is important in planning; each will need some kind of tech support for
each live element along with ISDN lines, in addition to a wireless IP codec, or
standard phone line for connectivity, he said.

Washington infrastructure

Glider said much of the network’s plans centered
around a Sierra Automated Systems 32KD router, a SAS Rubicon-SL console and ICM
32 intercom heads at the radio network’s 2020 M Street studio in Washington.

Barry
Bagnato of CBS Radio News was one of several correspondents anchoring live
coverage. Barry is overlooking the West Capitol steps and using a Telos Zephyr Xstreme MXP (ISDN codec plus four-input
mixer) box and a Sennheiser HMD26 headset mic.

The SAS Rubicon-SL console had no less than six
four-wire elements, Glider explained, whether they were an IP codec, a hard
wire to one of the positions or someone on a phone.

“Craig board-oped the event and managed all of the
mix-minuses and utilized an off-line bus so he could communicate with all of
the remote anchors both online and offline to give them voice cues,” Glider
said.

Swagler said
the goal of CBS Radio News is to “always to bring the best audio quality
possible when we do these live events. So we can bring the listener right to
the front steps of the Capitol building.

“The natural sound is crucial, the crowd reaction,
the applause, the pauses. The sound is crucial. We mixed in some shotgun mics
for natural sound.”

CBS Radio News used a Telos Zephyr Xstreme MXP,
which is an ISDN codec that also has mic- and line-level mixers built into it,
for remote locations, Glider said.

“Correspondents used Sennheiser sports headsets that
have great noise reduction for wind. The talent could mix their own sound on
the fly as they were reporting using the Zephyr,” Glider said.

The final mix audio went from CBS’ Washington
headquarters to New York via T-1with ISDN backup to the CBS broadcast center to
be distributed across the satellite network to affiliates.

Washington has infrastructure in many key locations
wired with four-wire analog circuits from the Capitol to the Pentagon, Swagler
said.

CBS Radio News at various locations up and down the
parade route used handheld Comrex Access units, capable of sending mono,
stereo or dual mono audio over POTS, DSL, Cable, Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G cellular and
satellite connections.

Dial Global posted two technicians and a technical
producer at the Capitol and additional techs at the Washington headquarters,
Glider said.

Swagler said a full dress rehearsal with talent was
held on Sunday. In addition, “We did a full technical testing two days prior.
Testing the lines back to the control room to verify that all elements have
full mix-minus and can talk to each other.”

Glider expressed pleasure with the performance of
the Telos Nx12 studio telephone system with ISDN voice option. “We had a
cellular phone interview with Martin Luther King III to give us perspective on
the day. The quality we were able to get out of the phone hybrid was far superior
than a standard Telos hybrid using a cell phone. The (Nx12) gave us much more
richness and texture.”

Using the various telephony technologies available
today does present challenges when mixing different sound quality and audio
levels.

“To Craig’s credit, when you have all of these
different elements and different algorithms it is hard to get the balance
sometimes, but this was true live radio that sounded great,” Glider said.
“Broadcasting live is special. There is balance to how pleasing is it to the
ear and different frequencies that pop out and to orchestrate; that is a
talent.”

IP codecs have come along the furthest of any remote
gear in the four years since Obama’s first inauguration, Swagler believes.

Posts are reviewed before publication, typically the next business morning. Radio World encourages multiple viewpoints, though a post will be blocked if it contains abusive language, or is repetitive or spam. Thank you for commenting!